Thursday, March 14, 2024 – The sister-in-law of Nottingham Forest striker Hwang Ui-jo has been sentenced to three years in prison for posting private explicit videos of the South Korean international and trying to blackmail him.
The defendant, who has not been named, was accused of
sharing the videos on social media while pretending to be an ex-girlfriend
accusing him of infidelity.
She posted the videos 'knowing it would be disseminated
indiscriminately', the Seoul Central District Court said in a verdict, Yonhap
news agency reported.
'The content has been widely distributed in and out
of South Korea... the nature of her crime is very serious,' the
court said.
The defendant had strongly denied the charges brought
against her up to the trial and said there was a possibility her phone had been
hacked.
But she later submitted a letter to judges in which she
admitted to the crime and offered her apologies to the court and Hwang.
Hwang has denied the allegations and prosecutors have yet to
clear or formally charge him.
In her blackmail plot, the defendant claimed Hwang had slept
with several women, including celebrities, and led them to believe he was
dating them, only to dump them later.
She also sent taunting messages to Hwang, saying 'it will be
fun' if the videos are leaked, according to a report by South Korea's Yonhap
news agency.
The three-year sentence for Hwang's sister-in-law was a year
less than prosecutors had demanded.
The defendant's acknowledgement of the crime and Hwang's
plea for leniency were taken into consideration, the court said.
'I have caused great harm to the victims and I sincerely
regret what I have done,' the defendant said in her final testimony.
The 31-year-old Hwang, who is on loan from Forest at Turkish
club Alanyaspor, scored in a World Cup qualifier against Singapore in November.
But the Korea Football Association have since suspended him
from the national squad pending the outcome of the investigation into the
alleged illegal filming.
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